IRA

(Newser) -
About one-third of non-retired Americans have no retirement savings or pensions to their names—and the government says it has just the thing to remedy that. Cue myRA , a free, no-risk savings plan designed for people who don't have access to (or can't afford) 401(k)s, IRAs, or other...
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John Downey was charged in 1982 blast that killed 4

(Newser) -
UK prosecutors think they know who set off the bomb that killed four British soldiers and seven horses in London's Hyde Park in 1982, but a judge today threw out the case against 62-year-old John Downey, reports the BBC . The wrench was that Downey was one of about 190...
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Queen Elizabeth, Martin McGuinness meet in Northern Ireland

(Newser) -
A hugely symbolic moment of reconciliation occurred across the pond today, as Queen Elizabeth II shook hands with a former Irish Republican Army commander. The New York Times describes it as "one of the most anticipated gestures in recent Irish history," and the Times and the Telegraph prop...
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Martin McGuinness was Irish Republican Army commander

(Newser) -
Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness has announced his candidacy for president of Ireland ; now come the inevitable questions over his former role in the IRA. Reporters this weekend asked about his stance on issues like the IRA murder of an Irish police officer in 1996; officials are also calling on...
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(Newser) -
In an exceptional move, Britain ordered a senior supporter of Irish Republican Army splinter groups to be sent back to prison today because of her alleged links to dissident threats against Queen Elizabeth II. Northern Ireland police rearrested 57-year-old Marian Price at a Londonderry courthouse after she received bail today;...
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There are no concrete threats, but they think it's a tempting target

(Newser) -
British authorities are on high alert, afraid that the wedding of Prince Williams and Kate Middleton represents an all-too-juicy target for the so-called " Real IRA, " or another Irish militant group. Though there have been no specific threats, security officials tell ABC News that they have “concrete intelligence”...
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Defecting foreign ministers may have been involved in Semtex deal

(Newser) -
An IRA bomb that killed a young police officer in Northern Ireland may be linked to plastic explosives obtained from Moammar Gadhafi's regime, according to investigators. The IRA purchased a large quantity of the explosive, Semtex, from Libya in the 1980s, reports the Telegraph . Former Libyan foreign minister Moussa Koussa...
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Muslim radicalization hearings criticized as hypocritical

(Newser) -
Peter King has become the center of a major controversy thanks to the hearing he’s holding tomorrow on “ Radicalization in the American Muslim Community .” So it’s sort of awkward that King himself was an outspoken IRA supporter, who once said things like, “If civilians are...
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Police bias against IRA at fault: report

(Newser) -
When a bomb ripped through a Belfast bar in 1971, killing 15, biased cops unjustly blamed the Provisional IRA, a new police report says. Though the bombing was at a Catholic-owned bar, police considered it to be an accidental explosion as the IRA prepared a bomb—the so-called “own-goal”...
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Priest had role in 1972 bombing, says report

(Newser) -
The UK government conspired with the Catholic Church to cover up a priest’s role in a 1972 bombing that left 9 people dead, according to a new report from Northern Ireland’s police ombudsman. Royal Constables suspected Father James Chesney was behind the triple car bombing, and involved in...
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And Israel hates him for it

(Newser) -
The president isn't a popular man in Jerusalem these days, thanks to his call for a freeze on Israel's illegal settlements in the West Bank, and rumors that he's hatching his own Mideast peace plan. “Barack Obama is a disaster for Israel,” one liberal commentator there tells Gideon...
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Evidence of torture may overturn man's 1973 conviction

(Newser) -
The British Army used waterboarding on prisoners in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, according to lawyers for a man appealing his 1973 conviction. Liam Holden was convicted of killing a British soldier on the basis of a confession which he says was extracted by torture: Holden, who spent 17 years...
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Gaddafi's son rebuffs Brown over compensation for terrorist attacks

(Newser) -
More messiness in the aftermath of the Lockerbie bomber's release. Following the Scottish government's decision to free Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, victims of IRA attacks in the 1990s have pressed Gordon Brown to petition for compensation from Libya, which allegedly provided the explosive Semtex in at least 10 attacks. Brown first said...
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Singer wants apology for 'disgusting slur'

(Newser) -
Michael Jackson was “appalled” after BBC comedians compared him to the IRA, and he wants an apology, the Mirror reports. Just days after three IRA-related murders, the comedians noted that both Jacko and the terrorist organization are “80s celebrities” making a surprise comeback. “To compare him to...
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Men aged 41, 32, 21 arrested in pair of raids

(Newser) -
Northern Ireland police arrested three men today over the killings of two British soldiers last week in a gun attack at an army base by suspected IRA dissidents. Police in Belfast said that men aged 41, 32, and 21 were arrested in early raids at two separate locations and are...
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Killing by IRA splinter group provokes defiant display in favor of peace

(Newser) -
Northern Ireland's Catholics and Protestants united yesterday to mourn a policeman killed by an IRA splinter group, the New York Times reports. In what some mourners described as the most improbable gathering of old enemies in modern Irish history, IRA veterans stood side by side with loyalists and security chiefs...
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Police from both sides of border team to find 300-lb. device

(Newser) -
Security forces from both sides of the Irish border are scrambling to find a 300-pound bomb that the Real IRA may have smuggled from the Republic into Northern Ireland. A telephone call alerted authorities that the device was intended for an army barracks. Belfast was also on alert after a...
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Security forces fear loyalist paramilitaries may respond to killings

(Newser) -
The IRA splinter groups responsible for two separate attacks in Northern Ireland within 48 hours most likely coordinated the attacks, security officials tell the Times of London. Officials say the two attacks point to an unprecedented level of cooperation between the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA—which have no...
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Dissident republicans vow more attacks in Northern Ireland

(Newser) -
A second Irish republican paramilitary group claimed responsibility for the murder of a police officer in Northern Ireland last night, the first constable killed there since 1998. The Continuity IRA, which considers itself the army of a united Irish republic, issued a coded message saying, "As long as there...
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(Newser) -
A police officer was killed in Northern Ireland tonight amid renewed tensions with suspected Irish Republican terrorists, the Guardian reports. Responding to a call on a private manor southwest of Belfast, one officer was fatally shot in the head and another injured. The Real IRA, which claimed responsibility for killing...
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